July 2021

Month

By Uh Oh and its First Thing in the Morning

Jordan Lake, Haw River 16 minutes after the sun rose … I was tracking a male osprey as he came in over the dam and almost disappeared down into the shadows of the riprap and the sudden glare of the sun. I watched the osprey flare and snatch his fish and then the quiet morning exploded in osprey shrieks and great blue heron gronks. A large light grey shadow was closing in on the osprey. I don’t know if the heron had had an eye on the same fish as the osprey or that the heron took exception to the osprey disturbing his morning fishing. The osprey fled the river with his fish and out over the dam and the heron grumbled his way back to the riprap shoreline.

By Crows’ Happy Hour

Jordan Lake does not have a human happy hour, so to speak, because alcohol is not allowed at the lake. However, American Crows define happy hour to be any time that they come across some human food to haul off. The lead crow has either a piece of chicken wing or maybe chicken nugget and it is heading for the clan’s cache tree. The other two crows are part of his family/clan that are escorting him across the open part of the lake in order to keep other clans from stealing that tidbit of human food. It appears that fried chicken in any form or shape and at any hour is appealing both to humans and to crows!

By Startled Green Heron

Jordan Lake. “Oh oh oh,” said the juvenile green heron. “Mom and Dad said to be very careful around creatures that have one big eye right where a beak should be. Oh oh oh what do I do? Let’s see. Mom and Dad said mostly these one-eyed creatures were just being curious and didn’t want to eat me. I think I will just slip right on past and go back to looking for fish.”
Which is exactly what the youngster did and I spent a delightful 10 minutes photographing him in the early morning light trying to find a fish.

By Sunrise Osprey Fledgling

Jordan Lake Dam, July 13, 2021. I was tracking this new fisher to the dam this morning when he crossed between me and most of the rising sun. Suddenly this fledgling male osprey was a sepia image somehow brought to the present by my digital camera but relying on the experience of yesteryear’s fragile film. The osprey was composed of feathers, sharp talons, utter concentration and incredible beauty. I thanked him for blessing my day.

By Mom Osprey is a Shade Tree

Jordan Lake: as we all know all too well the heat has been almost unbearable of late. Osprey parents, when it gets hot, make a shade producing umbrella out of themselves. Osprey nests are out in the open so there’s no shade producing tree branches above them. That means when the babies get very hot, as this one has, the parent will spread out its wings and let the chick shelter underneath of them. What a marvelous display of parental responsibility and ingenuity. In this case it is mom that’s making the shade. Dads do too, but I more often see the moms being shade trees – probably because mom is bigger than dad and can shelter the chicks easier.